Hacking Hurts

Many companies believe their website isn’t at risk of being hacked because they “don’t have anything worth taking”. However, many hackers aren’t looking to steal from your website; they simply want to re-purpose it for their own lucrative activities. This means there is no such thing as an invaluable website in the eyes of a potential hacker. There is also no such thing as a 100% hack-proof website. Even the CIA website has been taken down. However, due to their popularity, WordPress and other websites face the greatest threats from hackers.

When a website gets hacked, the possibilities are endless. Hackers can:

• Compromise sensitive and confidential information, such as credit card and contact information
• Send inappropriate and/or virus ridden e-mails from your business e-mail address
• Infect customers’ computers with viruses and malware
• Use your website to redirect traffic to all sorts of scams and websites that definitely don’t align with your brand’s values

While there are many tips and practices to avoid having your website hacked, sometimes no amount of preparation is enough and the unspeakable happens. The business you’ve worked so hard to build is at risk because of a website hack. Hacks can cause your website to be “black listed” by Google and other search engines. Once this happens, your web traffic will slow to a crawl. All of these outcomes damage the trust you have built with the consumer. That’s why it is so important to quickly identify and address the issue in the event of a hack.

Many popular web hosting companies such as eHost, GoDaddy, iPage, and Site Builder may completely remove your website from the internet when a hack occurs, and getting your site up again can prove to be a challenge. Once your website is taken down, you often don’t even have the access to fix the problem. Even if you do gain access and fix the problem, there’s no guarantee of when your site will be back online, and time is of the essence. This can be detrimental for business.

At Blayzer, we do things different. We understand these site shutdowns are unacceptable and can cause irreversible harm to a business. That’s why we build highly secure websites for our clients from the ground up. We specialize in WordPress and how to make it as secure as possible. Instead of running damage control in a post-hack situation, we would rather prevent the hack from ever happening.

In the worst case scenario, a client’s site is compromised, we take an alternative, hands-on approach to fixing the problem, and we do NOT just wipe your website from the face of the earth. We revert the site to a “safe” version while we work on the infected website to fix the problem and restore it to its pre-hack state. There is little to no down time for your website during this period.

No matter how large or how small the business, and no matter how complex or simple the website, having a plan to prevent and fix hacking situations is key. You’ve worked too hard at building your business to lose clients because of preventable and/or fixable website hacking.

Is your website as secure as you think? Do you have a plan if a hack occurs? We can help protect your site and put your mind at ease.